A strong winter storm moved through the county on Monday, creating hazardous driving conditions. The National Weather Service warned some low-lying areas could experience flooding.
There was heavy flooding two years ago in Leucadia, on the south end of Encinitas. Monday, Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers said the city is ready for the storm. In the alley by Leucadia Roadside Park, the city placed two industrial pumps, and more were placed in other areas where water collects.
"There's probably six, seven now, I think," Ehlers said. "(In) various places in various of these sumps in Leucadia.”
The pumps divert water into the drains and away from homes and businesses. In addition, the city also has several vacuum trucks on standby.
“They can go suck up puddles and nuisance water, or water where it's getting into — flowing into places where we don't want it to go to add to more flooding,” he said.
That’s good news for Matthew Lorentz. He’s the manager at Johnny Rad’z Pizza, whose parking garage is right in an alley that was flooded two years ago. He saw the pump in action last month during the New Year's Day storm.
“I know they've worked on it since then," Lorentz said. "Over the last month, after the big rains that we had. So, you know, our underground parking has not flooded. Since they've been out here.”
Lorentz was pleased with the work the city’s been doing to keep the area dry. The city has been actively working to improve the drainage system rather than relying solely on the pumps, he said.
“Encinitas is going to pull it off this time," Lorentz said. "We’ll see, though.”
Encinitas has been focusing on fixing the infrastructure in this part of the city, Ehlers said. Flooding is a particular priority for him.
“We're working on long-term solutions," he said. "We've actually allocated $800,000 to design a new storm drain along South Vulcan that will offload a lot of the downstream flooding that occurs, like here, along the alleys next to Leucadia Park.”
The National Weather Service said the storm is expected to generate strong winds with high and choppy seas.
